The government has said direct tax collection has surpassed the budget estimate of Rs 3.70 lakh crore for the 2010 fiscal.

“It (direct tax collection) is well above the budget estimate,” finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi on the sidelines of a function to commemorate the 20th foundation day of the small and medium sector lender Sidbi on Friday.

Direct tax realisation, however, is likely to fall short of the enhanced target of Rs 3.87 lakh crore, mentioned in the revised estimate for 2009-10. Direct taxes include corporate tax, personal income tax and wealth tax.

During the 11-month period of the 2010 fiscal, direct tax collection was Rs 2.78 lakh crore, nearly Rs 1 lakh crore short of the budget estimate.

In February, direct tax collection grew by a robust 27.54 percent on a year-to-year basis.

Tax collection stood at Rs 14,675 crore against Rs 11,506 crore in February 2009. This was against a negative growth of 19.84 percent in January.

Corporate tax collection grew by 10.89 percent to Rs 1.80 lakh crore in the April-February period compared to Rs 1.62 lakh crore in the 11-month period the previous fiscal, while personal income tax grew at 1.84 per cent to Rs 97,692 crore during the period.

In February, corporate tax collection grew by a healthy 16.87 percent, while personal income tax mop up jumped by a robust 37.58 percent.

With more and more people investing in the stock markets, the securities transaction tax (STT) fetched a handsome 5,975 crore during the first 11 months of the just-concluded fiscal, which is a smart 17.65 percent over the year-ago period.

The government, in the current fiscal (2010-11) expects to mop up Rs 4.30 lakh crore from direct taxes, higher by over 10 percent from what it is likely to collect the 2010 fiscal.

This is despite the widening of income tax slabs and reduction in surcharge on corporate taxes to 7.5 percent from 10 percent.

The minimum alternate tax (MAT) has been increased from 15 to 18 percent on book profit of companies which do not fall under the tax net due to various exemptions.

Source: india.gov.in

Investors have reaped a five- year best return of over 80 per cent from the stock markets in fiscal 2009-10, when judged by the performance of the BSE benchmark index Sensex. The bulls were back with a bang in fiscal FY’10, offsetting the losses incurred by investors in the previous financial year.

The returns from investments in this fiscal have soared to 80.5 per cent. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex settled at 17,527.77 points on March 31, 2010, from 9,708.5 points at the end of March 31, 2009. The Sensex had jumped to its two-year high level of 17,793 points on March 29 driven by strengthening of the rupee against the US dollar.

Among the biggest gainers in the Sensex companies Tata Motors surged over 300 per cent, followed by Hindalco 240 per cent, Tata Steel 210 per cent, TCS 200 per cent and Wipro 190 per cent in financial year ending March 31, 2010.

During fiscal 2007-08, the market provided a return of 20 per cent, while the same for 2006-07 and 2005-06 was 16 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively.

Source : The Economic Times